Quick Connect Pins

Hi, Does anyone use quick (er) connect pins on shrouds/forestay etc in lieu of clevis rings? I find them to be a real pain, but would not want shrouds etc letting go for the sake of a few minutes.

Thoughts appreciated

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1985 Prindle 16

i was thinking the same thing. i figure after all these years, someone must have found a quicker way to secure those pins besides using those key ring looking things.

Anything rigging? No. For the forestay, I did it, but not for the forestay in the jib.

Ring dings are a pain, but their reliable. Taping them makes them even more so.

Try using the pig tail versions of the rings, the ones with the little bent end on the inside of the ring. Or bend them yourself. They speed up the connection time compared to regular ones and maintain the reliability factor. I wouldn't trust anything else, they're an old standard for a reason.

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

Quick connect pins would be fine, I'm sure, but why disconnect them at all. At least for the season mine stay attached and I just bungy the stays to the mast when I'm trailering. It has improved my setup time by a few minutes. Once I let someone else pin one set of shrouds and I did the other side. The first tack out in the lake and the mast came down. He had neglected to put the retaining ring in correctly. So now I do it once a season, by myself, with stainless safety pin looking things and then relax the rest of the time. I usually trailer about 25 miles, but have gone as far as 100 miles with the shrouds still attached.

Quick pins should never be used on anything that by itself holds up the mast. Yes, save time by not undoing the shrouds, that's what most people do.

Sail on!

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Hey mdgann: By safety pins do you mean the ones often used on rudder pins? Just curious.

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/216395839/ ... less_Steel
Jman. Not sure if the ones I use are the same that they use on the rudders. I've tried to upload an image of the ones I have been using without much success. They are made of stainless spring steel wire about 1/16 inch in diameter.
Jeremy. Why shouldn't we use quick disconnects on the shrouds? They are used in much more critical applications on aircraft and other vehicles. If they are not maintained properly, the stop ball does tend to get sticky sometimes, but they are plenty strong. You might have problems if your shroud retaining holes are ovaled out quite a bit.

I have never heard of them being used on an aircraft, but that said, in big wind and waves with crew and skipper moving about and in a capsize situation the pin does have a chance to become un pinned . Just extra precaution. Also i leave my shrouds connected when trailering, I coil them and secure them so there is no need to disconnect.

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Bodhisatfa

The shroud adjusters are stamped and not precision machined, and you're relying on a tiny, tiny ball to hold the pin into a sloppy hole. They can come out. Many times I've seen the pins bend from the load of the rig causing the mechanism inside to fail. I've got one here at the shop somewhere, I'll try to snap a pic. I personally know of several dismastings caused by ball lock pin failure on shrouds.

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Man, that's some incredible loads. I know that marine quick disconnects are made of 17-4PH CRS and at 1/4 diameter are rated at 4500 lbf (calculated in doudle shear) to failure. Failure being any permanent deformation (bending). Dynamic loading being what it is, it would be really interesting to have some strain gauges on the shrouds hooked to a data bucket and go out on a blustery, bumpy day. I'd volunteer, but I don't have the equipment. I guess I should have a lot more respect for those little 1/4 inch solid clevis pins.

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